Oh For the Love of Zombies
by Eric and Sookie Fic Exchange
Summary: Written by: Kleannhouse- Eric invents a girlfriend to get his Mom off his back & shows her a random pic on the web of Sookie. It's all good until they see her when they're out to lunch one day & Eric has to convince Sookie to attend a Halloween party.
1. Chapter 1

**Oh For the Love of Zombies**

**Written by: **Kleannhouse

**Prompt For: **MissyDee

**Bookverse/Showverse:** Book  
><strong>Rating:<strong> M

**General Idea/Prompt:** It would be AH...Eric tells his mom he's dating someone so she'll leave him alone and the pic he shows her is a random pic he found on the internet of Sookie...until he's out to lunch one day with mom and Sookie is at the next table over...he corners Sookie and begs her to go along. Eric's annual family Halloween party is that night and he has to convince her to go.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any of these characters or Southern Vampire Mysteries but I enjoyed playing with them under the Weeping Willow Tree. Thanks Charlaine Harris

**Authors comment**: Just to be clear as to what I was thinking about when I wrote this story; I used Eric's passivity from when he was Amnesiac Eric. He would have never been able to have such strong emotional feelings if he was his Bad Ass self. So in this story Sookie is the strong one as during Book 4. Also I spoke with a couple of male friends who said they do think things like this but would never say them out loud.

Thank you to my BETA Northwoman she was a godsend. I would like to thank Southernlady23 and Makemyheadspin whom were a great help in convincing me to continue with this fic that I am still nervous about it.

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><p><strong>CHAPTER 1- Intel <strong>

My life used to be simple until my mother Aude Northman decided she needed to help me out with my love life. I am 28 years old have a BA in Marketing from Tulane; after graduating I moved back to my home town ofShreveport,Louisiana. I have a great job, a nice condo, good friends and the bonus is my parents and my sister, Pam, all live in the same city ofShreveport,Louisiana. I think my life is sweet and where it should be, but apparently my parents don't think so. . Don't get me wrong, my parents are great and they treat me well but my Mom loves to meddle. She says she wants what is best for me and with my love life's track record lately, I guess she has a point.

I have not had too many serious relationships and the one that stings the worst is my college sweetheart, Thalia. I thought we were in love but apparently, I was, she wasn't. Let's just say she never stopped cheating on me even when we got engaged. Then to top it off, I also found out she was a gold digger and that hurt me even worse since we had talked about my family's money when we first got together. She stated numerous times over three years "it did not matter to her who I was or if I was a pauper" since she was with me because she loved me for me. Thalia knew my family had money but when she found out the extent of the true value, dollar signs went off in her mind even louder. I guess I have to give my sister props for changing her last name so that whatever she does in her life is because of her own efforts, not because of her last name.

My family immigrated to theUSwhen I was one year old; I have only known theUSAas my homeland and country because my parents made sure of our naturalization when we moved here fromSweden. My parents built their company from scratch when we moved here. I am what you might consider privileged but I try to be as down to earth as I can be; I have seen firsthand how nasty the privileged can get when they think they are better than someone else. I never want to be like that.

Well anyway, my mother decided she needed to start fixing me up with eligible women. Well her taste and my taste in women are polar opposites. I love my mom, but I need her to butt out. She started gradually just inviting single, eligible women over to the house when we would have dinner and then she started inviting them to parties and our family gatherings. The parties I could escape from, when it got to be too much, but the family gatherings I had to start maneuvering around the uninvited advances; so I started inviting my close friends as well. That did not go well with her at first, because she said I was being sneaky; I really wasn't, I just wanted breathing room and I figured my friends could help run interference.

Well, she went and used my friends against me; I did not think that would be possible but Alcide, Quinn and Sam fell into her grasp rather quickly. It was like watching a spider trap its prey in its web, she was that good. My friends all love her and call her Mom so they did not see at first what she was doing but I watched from the sidelines and it was scary. **So Scary**, I knew I would be talked into a relationship sooner or later that I did not want; I wanted to be able to live my own life and choose my own mate but Mom thought I was running out of time. Call her old fashioned, she was born and raised in Sweden along with my father so I guess some of their ways or customs are old fashioned because they have stuck to their families traditions or according to Pam the "Old Swedish Way". I am sure when Mom is done with me she will be after Pam next. _Good Luck with her, Pam, You will need it._

So one night, I was talking to Alcide, trying to come up with a game plan for my love life and he told me if I wanted to get out from under my Mom's radar I needed to come up with a fake girlfriend; but one I could substantiate by pictures and a believable story. I thought it was a great idea because that is how he found Maria for himself.

He told me how they met, a couple of times too many. Alcide was talking to a friend while waiting in line at Starbucks and Maria was standing in line behind them; she overheard them talking about his plan.

Maria then offered a bit of advice on the matter to Alcide "that he would need to find someone willing to go along with the made up story, so that when there needed to be a meet the parental units' day there would not be any issues or back pedaling since the supposed girlfriend was already on the hook". So Alcide, being Alcide, then asked Maria if she knew of anyone and she offered up herself, she said he was an attractive, funny man and since she knew the background information as to why he needed a fake girlfriend to begin with, she was good to go.

She said she would not mind being his wingman and that way she would be able to pass as the good girlfriend when she met his parents. Funny thing is, it backfired and they fell in love and I mean hard **LOVE,** but the best thing that came out of it was both his parents and my mom approved of her.

So now it's time for me to find a fake girlfriend; but I would have to be sneaky, have her live outside ofShreveportand not run in the same cliques as my parents. I wanted someone smart, laid back, their own person and who could take care of themselves. Where the Hell was I to find her? So Alcide suggested the internet? Dating services, NO FUCKING WAY! So I started looking to see what cities lie aroundShreveportand that's when I found Bon Temps, it was only a 40 minute drive away so it fit perfectly for my fake relationship. It was not too far away and it was a small community so I figured there had to be someone there who could fit my profile perfectly.

**GOOD LUCK RIGHT!**

So I took a drive one day to see what there was in Bon Temps: I needed intel on the city so I could have places to look into on the internet search for my new sweetheart. But when I arrived in Bon Temps I figured I would have to look elsewhere. To say the least, this place was as backwater as a place could get. My mom would never believe me about finding anyone from here. But I was determined, so I looked to see what major city departments, schools, and whatnot were in this Podunk town. Bon Temps did not have much; City Hall, Police Station, Library, two Schools and a Bar.

Damn, I was going to be toast trying to find someone. So I took the information back with me to my condo and searched the web. Even though it was a little town they stored their information on the internet and each location or department had their very own detailed website. I sat for hours looking through all the websites browsing for my new girlfriend, I was getting very frustrated. I almost gave up before I got to theBonTempsHigh Schoolwebsite; there had to be somebody there (GOD please help me here, I'm crashing and burning). I started surfing through the staff, then the teachers and nothing caught my eye. I figured I was doomed and then the next to last teacher came up onto the website and I about died. There she was - the most beautiful creature I ever saw, Sookie Stackhouse-, she stole my heart at that minute. I knew I was doomed because she would never be mine. But I had to remember this was a fake girlfriend for a fake situation, I was so screwed. How the Hell was I going to pull this off?

So I browsed some more and found out she taught tenth grade. She majored in Science with a minor in Art and graduated from LSU and with the date supplied on website for her graduation from college I figured her to be 26 years old. This website was better than a Google search; they had more information on each staff employee than I think some private detectives would have had. But at such a small school, you had only one teacher for all of your classes except for PE so I guess it was fitting for you to know who your children's teachers were. The funny thing I found next on the website was that there was also a Jason Stackhouse listed on the staff. I thought once again I was screwed there was no way I could have a married girlfriend; this would blow up in my face. So I proceeded to read a little bit more about him and decided it was her brother, I knew it wasn't her husband because they looked alike; plus I did a little bit more research on him just to be safe.

I Google'd their names from their local newspaper and found out that Jason was older than his sister and was very proud of her because she got a full ride to LSU because of her grades and test scores; she was listed as Valedictorian of her class at Bon Temps High School. Jason had stated he was not so lucky but got to go to LSU on a Sport Scholarships, apparently he received a partial scholarship for Football, which made sense for his PE teacher status. Sookie was making me very proud of her accomplishments but it made me wonder why she went back to Bon Temps and not onto another big city to excel in her field. I wondered why she was in the education field, she had to have had bigger plans, what derailed her to come back home_. _

_I knew I was thinking too much, my head began to hurt._

I wondered what else she had done and I really wanted to see her Class Yearbook so I would have a good story to give my mother. I needed as much information as possible so I decided to make another trip out to Bon Temps this time to visit the local library and maybe do a little recon on her from the locals.

It was a few days before I could get back to Bon Temps to do my recon but I had already downloaded her picture from the website and newspaper so I printed them up. Now that I think about it, I feel like I am stalking her and being a bit of a creep.

_Only Giant Perverts do this kinda thing right!_

I had to be careful how I proceeded so no one thought of me "a big giant perv". I made sure I went to the library on a school day so no one would suspect anything. I just told work I had errands and would be in late; it seemed a good cover story at the time.

So off to Bon Temps I went, I found the library and walked inside, I was greeted by Mrs. Beck, the librarian, and she welcomed me with open arms and asked me if I needed any help. So I asked her about oldBonTempHigh Schoolyearbooks and she directed me to them. I also led her to believe I was interested in moving into the community and if she could give me any history on Bon Temps, I would greatly appreciate it. Mrs. Beck said she could not supply that type of information correctly as she was not a native Bon Temps resident. However, the elderly woman over at the romance novels was a long time resident and her name was Adele. Mrs. Beck directed me to speak to her because if there was anything in this town to know about, it would be Adele who would be able to tell me the history of it. I thanked her and went off to talk to Adele before I found the yearbooks I wanted to look through in the library's research section.

So I walked over to Adele and introduced myself. I gave her my correct name because I only thought it was fair and I did not want too many lies out there. The more lies I told the more possibility there was they would come back to bite me in the ass; been there, done that and I did not want it to happen again. Adele was a gentle and kind woman she spoke of this little back water town as if she was talking about the Taj Mahal. She gave it such depth I was drawn into her recollections of the town she grew up in and it was the same town where she raised her two grandchildren.

I loved talking to this woman and when my stomach started to growl she asked me if I had plans for lunch; I told her I did not. I knew I would need to leave soon to get back to work but I was just enjoying her company too much. I have never been able to speak to someone of Adele's age and stay interested; she was a very captivating woman and I did not want to leave. She then asked me if I wanted to come back to her small farm house and have lunch with her and that way we could continue our conversation. I thought it was odd of her to ask me since I was a stranger and told her so; she said not to fret she could tell I was not a threat to her; she said she has a good intuition for people. I told her I would love to have lunch with her, but I first needed to look for something in the research section of the library. She told me that was fine, she needed to pick out a couple of romance novels and she would meet me at the front of the library when I was finished. I did not want to hold her up too much so I quickly did my research and found out what I needed to know about Sookie. She wasn't the most popular student but she was very involved in school which I thought was odd because the two usually coincide. So I just tucked that information aside and met up with Adele.

As we got to our cars, she told me to follow her since the turn off was tricky ontoHummingbird Lane. So that I did not get lost, I told her I would stay right behind her. As I was following her home I thought about what I was doing and if it was a good idea. I told myself it was a good idea and just to keep going along with it. I was not hurting anyone and I was looking forward to more of Adele's time and stories. I decided it would be best to call work and let them know that the errands I was doing would be taking longer than I thought and did not know if I would make in today. Lucky I did not have much lined up today so my boss just told me to take the rest of the day off.

As we turned ontoHummingbird Lane, I realized it wasn't much more than a gravel driveway and proceeded down it. I had a flash of a thought that this was not a good idea and I started to get worried. One, hopefully there wasn't any pot holes and two, where the hell was she taking me? Little old lady or not I was not having good thoughts about this drive to nowhere. As we came up to the old farm house, I thought to myself this house would be beautiful if some work was done to it; to replace some of the gutters and maybe a new paint job but I figured Adele was not from a wealthy family so I just set my thoughts to the side, not all of us grew up privileged.

She was opening her doors to me and offering food I did not want to deny her this simple pleasure of good food and company. God, I hoped it was good food, oh well at least I knew I would have good company. She told me to pull around back because that is what all family members did and we would enter through the kitchen door.

_Then I thought I'm not family, hmmmm food for thought._

So I followed her and parked my car next to hers. I noticed that her lawn was well kept and she had a huge back yard that led into the woods. I wondered how much of the property belonged to her and thought to ask her later. She may be wealthy in land but nothing monetary.

As we arrived in the kitchen I saw it was old and dated but well kept. Adele seemed to love her kitchen and she told me about how old everything was and she could not part with anything from her ancestors. She told me to wash my hands at the sink and she would prepare us lunch. I never thought she would make us a home cooked meal but she proceeded to make me fried chicken, mash potatoes, greens and a pecan pie for dessert. I told her that was too much but she said she always had something prepared in the morning, in case her grandbabies came home for lunch. She told me she enjoyed cooking and feeding her grandbabies and she was just using me as a fill in today for lunch since they were both working.

I laughed at that and she told me she had been taking care of her grandbabies since they were young; she had gotten them after their parents had passed away in an accident. I thought how noble of her and I hope her grandbabies are now taking care of her. She never mentioned their names or what they did for a living so I did not pry but you could tell she was very proud of them and their accomplishments. She told me of stories from her past and theirs. She filled me in on what Bon Temps has been like to live in. I wish I lived here; this house and town felt like home to me. I would miss it once I went back toShreveport.

As we were wrapping up, Adele noticed the time and said that her grandbabies would be getting off of work soon and asked me if I wanted to stay to meet them. I told her maybe another time, even though I knew that was never going to happen but I needed to get back to my home inShreveport. She never questioned me on why I would want to move out ofShreveportand into a small town so I did not have to lie to her. However, she was very gracious and did make sure to pack up our lunch leftovers and sent them home with me. She said her grandson would always take home her leftovers but she thought I might need them more. If she only knew my wealth outweighed hers by a mile. I was very grateful and told her so.

As I was leaving she walked me out to my overpriced car and gave me a hug and told me she would see me soon. It seemed odd at the time but like she said she had an intuition about folks and just chuckled a bit when I was hesitant to respond back. At that moment, I wished I would be seeing her again. She watched me pull out of the back yard and drive down the driveway; all the while waving good bye to me. I wished I could come back to talk to her; I knew I would miss her.

As I approached the end of the driveway I turned on my GPS, I figured it was the only way I was going to find my way back toShreveportsince I lost track of direction while I was following Adele. As I was sitting there waiting for it to turn on I looked around at the end of the driveway and noticed the mail box that I had not noticed when we drove in. I needed to know her last name so that I can put her full name into my vault of memories since I knew I would not be seeing her ever again. So I proceeded to get out of the car and walked over to the mailbox, the one side just had a number, 200, on it; but when I reached the other side I about pissed myself, the name on the box was Stackhouse. I was in Sookie's house and that was her grandmother.

…**OH FUCK ME** …

Well I got home quicker than I thought I would; the trip only took me 35 minutes, well at least I have that much for my story. OMG, I was freaking out! I had been in Sookie's house and didn't even know it. How ironic is that, all this shit has thrown me for one big ass loop, I can't get over it, what the hell was I thinking…? Did Adele suspect anything? She said she has an intuitive side, so I wonder did she know all along what I was up to? She was sweet to me and she even called me family after a few hours of conversation and I am still reeling over that one. Hell, I felt closer to her than to my own grandmother.

_I had to calm down or I was going to have a heart attack_

It took me a while to calm down and when I did, I called Alcide. I had to talk to someone about this to see if I still should proceed or stop this major fucked up plan. Alcide said once he finished up at the job site he would be over; his family owned Herveaux Construction inShreveport. He even took the time to ask me if we needed a 6-pack or 12-pack of beer and I told him more like a bottle of Jack Daniels. He was not too sure how to respond to that since he was unaware I had spent the day out in Bon Temps doing recon.

As I waited for Alcide I put all of my research together along with the two printed out pictures of Sookie. The longer I stood there by myself and alone, the easier it was for me to talk myself out of this. But I kept telling myself, no one will be the wiser, I could do this, it was harmless and no one would be hurt when I told my mom it was over. Who the hell was I kidding? I am attracted to Sookie by her damn picture.

_Should I just call this farce off and pursue her?_

Hell I am so fucking confused, Alcide hurry the fuck up and get here before I do something stupid….. Alcide arrived a little after 6pm and the pizza arrived 5 minutes later. Perfect timing… I was going nuts. Now for me to spill my guts out to my best friend and see what he has to say about it.

I talked to Alcide for about 2 hours and we went over everything and I mean everything, multiple times. I told him about my two trips to Bon Temps, my internet browsing, my attraction to her picture and her accomplishments, my visit with Adele and then the farm house.

My big question for him was what the hell do I do now?

Alcide sat quietly for a few minutes and then he said: _Dude you're fucked_ … _but in a good way…. You have feelings for her and that will help you pull this off…. Your mom would have seen right through the lie and called you on it….. But dude, you have it bad for her and you haven't even met her….. I only see one hard part to this lie….Telling your mom you're dating Sookie, then giving her side stories about Sookie will be the easy part since Adele gave your stories about Sookie's childhood, you have her life from the Bon Temp's paper and her yearbook….. You know what she does now for the school…. So all these stories will be easy peasey… and all be true. Nothing made up, no lies to catch you in…. The hard part, my friend, will be putting your mother off on meeting her and you know she will beg for that, plus you have all the family gatherings coming up, so you see my friend you are SCREWED on that part…. Your mother will **NEVER** take **NO** for an answer….. Plus Alcide added as a side note that I also needed to get Quinn and Sam involved in this because you know your mom will ask all of us questions about your new girl since we are together so often during the week… there would be NO WAY and I mean NO WAY that your friends would not have met her … _

He next told me he would help me set everything up and see if Maria would help since she was involved with Alcide's own fake girlfriend story. This had to work; my options were running out and I wanted no more blind dates setup by my mother. I took a deep breath and laid down hoping to fall asleep, the Jack Daniels relaxed me enough to doze off but all I dreamt about was Sookie. God, I was screwed…


	2. The Lie

**Chapter 2- The Lie**

I woke up the following day and called my mom and set up a lunch date for Saturday. We always met at Merlotte's Diner inShreveport, my buddy, Sam, owned it now after his dad passed away, so it felt like home and it made me comfortable enough to talk to my mom about my new "girlfriend".

We got there a little after 12:30pm and it wasn't too busy which was good. I wanted no one I knew to hear this and I knew a lot of my friends and co-workers frequented there often enough to put the fear of God into me. Plus, I had hoped once I told my mom everything she would keep quiet about it for me, at least for the time being.

Well here goes nothing … Mom and I ordered our drinks and then our lunch. I could tell she was curious about why I wanted to meet her for lunch so I jumped right into it. I told her I met someone and that Sookie and I wanted to stay under everyone's radar since she was not part of theShreveportsocial group that the Northman's ran in. I told my mom about how she grew up and was raised by her grandmother after her parents passed away. That she achieved her dreams by becoming a high school teacher and teaching at her alma mater in Bon Temps. Mom said she never heard of that town and I told her it was about a 40 minute drive south ofShreveport. I told her we met at one of my favorite seafood restaurants midway between here and Rustin.

… _I kept thinking to myself—unbelievable- she is eating this shit up, maybe this will be easy…. _

I told my mom we were taking it slow since we live in different cities and saw each other as much as we could. We did not call each other but used Skype instead so we could see each other and not just hear our voices. It helped us not to miss each other as much….. _Damn I was laying it on thick, I am better at this than I thought, she believes me_…. _Oh shit there's the look….._ I thought I was caught in the lie but she just watched as I talked about my girlfriend and my new life. Hell, I was smitten with Sookie and I did not even know her.

Mom asked me questions; I gave her answers and it worked out, thankfully I had the right answers. Until her next question; the one I was dreading; when was I going to be bringing Sookie over to my parent's house to meet them. I told her I would get back to her because Sookie has a very busy schedule with school so it may be difficult since the year just started.

Mom said the following," I will not be put off forever; I need to meet this young lady of yours before you get more serious than you already are. I can already tell you are smitten and I do not want the same thing to occur that happened with Thalia"

**OUCH **_I guess she did not trust me or my heart_

We finished up our lunch and we said our goodbyes but made a date for lunch in two weeks time and she was hoping Sookie would be with me on October 16. I would have to come up with a good excuse when she was not at lunch with me. I would have to talk to Alcide and Maria and see if they had any ideas.

The talk with Alcide and Maria went well but we were still trying to come up with a legitimate excuse for Sookie not being there. There wasn't anything we could come up with and as the day got closer we were getting more creative. We had two days to go when Maria had a brilliant idea and went onto theBonTempsHigh Schoolwebsite. She wanted to look at their calendar to see what was happening in the month of October.

As luck was on our side we found out that the Junior Varsity Football team had an away game on Saturday at noon… **_JACKPOT_**_…_….. Maria had done a little research on her own and found out that the Stackhouse's worked as a team when it came to the JV Football team; Sookie's brother Jason was the head coach. Maria had also found out Sookie would go as his teams EMT since the school could not afford one.

That would help us out with a diversion for my mother. Sookie would have to be at the school early in the morning to catch the bus with the team, then the 40 minute trip to Minden. The game would last at least 2 hours and then the trip back would put her back home at the early evening hours. She was always tired after these trips so we would not be seeing each other on Saturday, possibly not even on Sunday, because she had church with her grandmother….. _DAMN we were getting to good at this_ …. This plan had to work.

Well, Saturday finally got here and I was nervous to say the least. My mom was not happy when I walked into Merlotte's without a certain blonde on my arm. I apologized to her from Sookie stating that she had a prior commitment and she could not disappoint the team by not being there. It worked like a charm, _hook, line and sinker_.

We talked a bit and then she reminded me about the Northman Halloween Party coming up on October 30. She expected Sookie and me to be in attendance. The Northman's have kept some of our families' Swedish traditions alive and one of them was the celebration of All Hallow's Eve or Halloween. I about fell over. I forgot all about that; how the hell was I going to pull this one off? She also reminded me that the theme this year was "Zombies".

I knew Alcide, Quinn and Sam already had their outfits but I wanted to wear my normal Viking costume. I enjoyed it and I felt at home in it. I always got hit on a lot by the woman in attendance but I did not care. I did not want to be a Zombie but I guess I would have to dress up as a zombie for my mom or never hear the end of it. We talked a little bit more and then we said our goodbyes. I asked her if she needed anything for the party, she said she would let me know. I knew she would not need me for anything; she handles everything; I guess you can call her a control freak.

I called Alcide and told him of our new problem. That Sookie's attendance at the party was not an option; she could not miss out on this event…... Damn I was screwed again… We would have to put our thinking caps on again and hopefully come up with something. Or I could just let my mom know we broke up because we could not come to terms with our busy schedules and the conflicts it caused. It would break her heart and mine but it might just be my only option.

The week disappeared quickly, quicker than it ever has before and then the following week got here and I was shitting bullets; if they were only silver and I was a vampire maybe they would not exit my body and I would be put to my final death. This lie was starting to get out of control and as I was becoming aware I was unable to control its outcome.

Friday night arrived and I called my mom to meet me for lunch the next day at Merlotte's diner, I knew she would be busy with preparations for the party but she agreed to meet me. I had decided I was going to tell her Sookie and I broke up because of schedule conflicts; it was the only thing I could come up with that made sense to me, Alcide and Maria.

I did not want to tell my mom before the party but it felt right; I just did not want my mom to be upset all night when I did not show up with Sookie. I wanted her to enjoy the party she looked forward to it every year. But I figured if I was upset from the break up that evening and then proceeded to get cold stone drunk over the break up; it would prove to her I was in a relationship and one that meant something to me. The guys were all in on this so I could use it as my excuse and she would leave me alone for the night and maybe a few more weeks. It seemed to be my only option and a great idea or so I thought.

_….. **But of course Murphy's Law was summoned on my ass…. Of all the luck…..**_

Mom and I arrived at the same time at Merlotte's Diner so we walked in together. We were having a friendly conversation and then my world stopped cold. I mean dead stop, end of the world stop, off its axis stop…..I was so fucked…There she was sitting at booth by herself and looking as beautiful as ever. Shit I was so fucked.

I kept thinking to myself …

_Oh My God, Oh My God, she's here, MOM please don't notice…please please please. Oh shit she's looking in our direction. I know from her picture she's beautiful but in person she is so much more. From the information I complied on her, her name is Sookie Stackhouse and I told my parents we have been dating for the last couple of months. Oh Shit how am I going to keep my mom from walking over to her and saying hello, I'm Eric's mom, Aude. Please don't embarrass me Mom. Please…Please ….. OH MY GOD I'm so fucked."_

Mom and I sat in the next booth over from Sookie but I could still see her. She looked curious like she was listening to someone but no one was with her. Her face scrunched up a bit and then relaxed, what was that all about? Was she alone or meeting someone? Please if she is meeting someone, please make it a girl. I don't know what I would do or say if it was a guy. I thought I heard her snicker, what the hell was that about? Oh shit, what the hell does my mother think about all this? I have some explaining to do. What the hell am I going to tell my mom?

The waitress came over to Sookie first and asked her if the rest of her party was there yet and she said no not yet but she would like a sweet tea w/lemon while she waited. The waitress then came over to us and took our drink order as well. Mom started to say something but then Copley Carmichael's daughter came into the diner and stopped by our table. What was her name again? She was an aggressive female so I should remember her name. Pam would know it since she went after both of us. Damn, what was her name? I was lost and saved by my mom when she said hello to Amelia and asked her how she was doing? Mom asked her if she would be at the Halloween Party tonight? Amelia said she would not miss it for the world. She acknowledged me but said she was meeting someone and she would see us tonight. She walked away and sat in the booth with Sookie. I did not know if my mom noticed this little tidbit or not, hopefully not, otherwise she would hound Amelia for information about Sookie and it would blow my story. What the hell was I thinking? It was all unraveling. I'm screwed; someone needs to rescue me now. I'm going down for the count 8.9.10. Throw me a life vest, I'm drowning.

Then I thought, how the hell does Sookie know Amelia? They run in different crowds. I could not think on that right now. I had to figure out what I was going to say to my mom now that Sookie was also at Merlotte's. I could not tell her we broke up because she would march right over to Sookie and confront her. Shit shit shit. _I am so screwed_. What was I thinking, setting up a fake girlfriend for myself where she had a history and background stories and it was all true? It seemed like a beautiful plan at the time. Why did Sookie have to leave Bon Temps today of all days?

I sat there quietly for a while just thinking but when I looked over at Sookie she was either looking like she was listening to something or she was actually smiling at me…. WTF…. That was eerie. She shook her head once and then dived into conversation with Amelia at the same time I started talking to my mom about nothing but nonsense. I had to fill the conversation somehow.

We ordered lunch and talked a bit about everything else going on in my life but never about Sookie. Could Mom tell something was wrong? As I was finishing my lunch, I heard Sookie tell Amelia, rather loudly, that she was going to the ladies' room. This was my chance to get her alone, see if she would help me out. I was desperate at this point. The party was less than 5 hours away.


	3. Peanut Butter M&Ms

**Chapter 3- Peanut Butter M&M's**

**SPOV**

I was sitting at Merlotte's Diner waiting for Amelia to show up and as usual she was late. I was thinking to myself that the people in this diner were rather boring as I sat their listening to their thoughts so I decided I needed to put my shields back up; I figured I was going to fall asleep in this place if I didn't. It was really, really boring for a Saturday lunch and I was done entertaining myself from other people's thoughts. Most people are usually thinking about what screw up they had done the night before and were trying to figure out how to fix it but not today. It sucks being a telepath sometimes, not many people know about my disability, just family and a few friends like Amelia and Tara and I would like to keep it that way. It comes in handy with my students though because I can usually tell when something is bothering them and then gently coax it out of them, for those reasons only, it helps being able to hear them. I guess that is why I am popular with the student body in Bon Temps. They know they actually have a teacher that they can talk to when they need one.

Anyway I was just getting ready to text Amelia when I looked up and watched this tall, gorgeous man walk into the diner. He looked familiar too, a little like Amelia's friend Pam Ravenscroft, but only in the eyes and blonde hair. The thought occurred to me once I watched his face change in demeanor, he looked quite shocked and since there were not too many people in the diner I thought to lower my shields again to see what was so wrong. His face looked like he just saw a ghost and that he was in major pain, not necessarily by his facial expressions, but by the look in his eyes.

Needless to say I was a bit shocked by what I heard in his thoughts:

_Oh My God, Oh My God, she's here, MOM please don't notice…please please please. Oh shit she's looking in our direction. I know from her picture she's beautiful but in person she is so much more. From the information I complied on her, her name is Sookie Stackhouse and I told my parents that we have been dating for the last couple of months. Oh Shit how am I going to keep my mom from walking over to her and saying hello. Please don't embarrass me Mom. Please…Please OH MY GOD I am so fucked."_

Yeah I was shocked but I was also intrigued. Why would he know my name and where did he get my picture from? Why would this ADONIS of a man have to lie to his parents about having a girlfriend? Was he GAY? Was he in a relationship he did not want his parents knowing about? So many questions and no way to ask him unless I ignored Amelia during our lunch and listened to him and the woman I presumed was his mother.

I hadn't dated anyone in over a year so it was a beautiful thought for me to be the girlfriend of this Adonis of a man. He had to be 6"5" about 190-200lbs, Scandinavian heritage from what I could tell by his looks. He looked to be in great shape, perfect abs and biceps. I wish I could see his butt; the ass is one of my favorite parts of the male anatomy and then maybe their eyes. You can tell a lot about a person from their eyes, so many emotions go through them. What was I thinking I was a figment of his imagination, not his true girlfriend but one could dream? **…..RIGHT…..**

As I looked up again, I noticed this Viking Adonis was headed in my direction, what was up with that? My next thought, was he going to approach me and make me feel awkward by sitting with me? No. No. No…. OH thank god, he stopped at the booth next to me. I could still see him, I could not see his mom but I could definitely see him. So I smiled at him and nodded a hello. He looked shocked to say the least. My next thought was, Do I know him and how? He seemed so familiar. So I then thought to myself do I keep my shields up or down to see what's up? But before I could make that decision I heard the following thoughts, they were not from my Viking but from his mother,

_"Look there's Eric's girlfriend Sookie, I wonder if he is going to introduce her to me or make me wait until the party tonight. She is beautiful just like the pictures Eric has showed his father and me. I am curious how she feels about my son; he has been hurt too many times in the past. Poor boy has put a wall up around his heart and won't let anyone in. I hope it works out for him; she's beautiful and Peder would approve." _

As I was listening to her I am thinking to myself, **WHAT THE HELL**? How did he pick me to be his fake girlfriend and why would he have to lie about it to his family? Again the thought crossed my mind, he looks so familiar but I know I have never met him before because he is a person you would not forget. ….**EVER…**. OR have I met him? Food for thought for a much later time of course when I would have more time to think about it; but not now… Then the thought occurred to me that possibly I met him at one of Amelia's or her dad's parties. I know he does not know me from Bon Temps in any way shape or form, he would never run in my circles and I know I don't run in his. Hell, he probably lives inShreveport, why would I know him.

As I sat there contemplating my next action, I thought to myself. Amelia, damn it, show up already I need your advice "NOW" ….. What do I do, what do I do? Do I help him out? Do I listen some more or do I just ignore him?

The next thought I hear is from my Viking, _"Oh My God, she is smiling at me, why is she smiling at me? I am so screwed….. She has a beautiful smile and bright blue eyes…. God I am so screwed"_ So I decide to keep my shields down and focus on his and his mother's thoughts and block out everyone else's.

Mom is thinking, "_I wonder what costume she is wearing tonight to the party? I hope Eric told her the theme is Zombies_."

The Viking is thinking, "_I am totally screwed. I do not know Sookie. How am I going to talk to her and ask her if she will go with me tonight? Shit this little white lie is going to bite me in the ass and Mom is going to kill me. Shit why the hell did I lie, shit I hate lying and people who lie because of that bitch who lied to me all the time, I don't want to be like her."_

**…Wow at least I know now he isn't gay…..**

_"Oh shit Oh Shit, I am so screwed…. Breathe Eric "_

**… at least I know his name is Eric. I wonder what his last name is... **

_"Breathe Eric, you can do this, she can only say no but how the hell do I approach her? I must look like a creep, just staring at her. But she is staring right back; why is she doing that? Am I drooling**? GOD I AM SO FUCKED**_

Well as I sat there I thought to myself, what to do now that I heard his dilemma, he must be shitting bullets not being able to approach me and not being able to say anything to his mom about me. Again, do I help him out? Or do I wait to see what he does? From what I have heard through his thoughts I have a pretty general idea about what happened and why. I don't like what he did and how he did it but he was trying to get himself out of a pickle and his scheme backfired on him, big time.

Please Amelia, just show up so I can talk to you!

**Finally, **I almost screamed it allowed asAmelia came through the doors of the diner, **about friggin' time**. But the shocker was Amelia stopped at their table first and said hello. Damn she knows them; maybe I won't have to do anything after all.

Once Amelia arrives at our table, I ask her who that was at the other table and why does he keep staring at me with so much pain in his eyes. She tells me that his name is Eric Northman and his mother, Aude Northman. She knows them through her dad and that I have met his sister before at one of her dad's parties; her name is Pam.

_ "I don't remember a Pam Northman"_

But she has no clue why he staring at me except that I am a very beautiful woman, of course I blush at that compliment and Amelia tells me I am too easy and should accept the compliment graciously. All I can do is smile at her.

I think, Oh that explains a lot, over privileged rich snobs from one of Amelia's dad's parties. So that's why he feels the need to make up this lie about me. How high handed can he get, the nerve of him. I should just ignore him and go my own way. **SCREW HIM**

Amelia brings me out of my own thoughts and asks me if I have heard anything and points to her head. Of course I nod YES. But I really don't want to talk about it yet. It pisses me off that he thinks he is entitled to make up a story about me. I'm fuming to say the least. However, I am still trying to figure out what exactly is going on and if I could even help him. My emotions and thoughts keep going back and forth and I am sure my face keeps scrunching up like I am in pain. I need to shut him out for the time being to get back a little sanity so I can make a rational decision.

The waitress comes over and takes our order and then we fall into a peaceful conversation. I had to lock my mind down since Amelia is such a strong broadcaster she gives me a headache sometimes, but I love my college roommate none the less. She is one of the few people who know about my disability and I want to keep it that way. She found out the second week of college and has kept my secret ever since. She is a godsend sometimes and other times a pain in my ass. But I still love her.

Case in point, she starts talking about "The Party", that we are supposed to go to tonight. She begs me once more to go with her. But I tell her I am unsure, since I am not from "that side of town". Little does she know I already planned on going with her, my costume is in my car.

Amelia laughs at me and tells me once more that I am better than that group of people because I genuinely care about other people not just myself and I would never hurt anyone intentionally like that group of people tend to do. I look over at the other table I see Eric smiling after her comment, did he hear her? HMMMMMM

Hell, I know who her dad is and I could care less. He offered to help me out during college and I told him I would earn the money myself if I needed it. He told me numerous times he thinks of me as his other daughter; it's nice to know if I needed him I could always turn to Copley.

So I tell Amelia once again; "just because you have money it does not make you better than anyone else. I would rather be myself and poor than be a rich snob with no true friends. I could care less who your dad is and how much money he is worth and that she is my BFF regardless of her upbringing. She is just plain ol' Amelia to me, from our college days and I will love her no matter how big of a pain in the ass she is." At that moment, I feel like someone is watching me, I look up and it is the Viking again. He has a very strange look on his face. I wonder did he happen to hear what I said to Amelia. I know I get loud when I tell Amelia that little speech it happens all the time. Oh well, not my worry if it offended him.

Since it seems like everyone around us in deep in conversation so I figure I can tell Amelia about what I heard and get her opinion on it. She was a little shocked to say the least. She said she has known Eric and Pam since she was little and she knows he has not dated anyone seriously since his fall out with his college sweetheart. Apparently it was a nasty breakup. He had found out after they got engaged that she was cheating on him and only wanted to marry him because of his social status (_BITCH_) and the Northman name.

No wonder he lied to his mom about dating me; but it still does not give him the right to lie; though I do understand why he did it a little bit better now.

Well I decided I would just wait and see what his next move would be. Just then the waitress came back over to the table to give us our lunch and to see if our drinks needed to be refilled; Hell I was already working on my third iced tea. We started to eat our lunch and I realized I never did give Amelia my answer on whether I was going with her tonight to the party. So I decided I would wait for a while and make her beg me a few more times. She wanted me to meet her friend Pam, she always talks about her and we have missed each other at the few, and I mean few, other functions I have gone to with Amelia. I knew she was not Pam Northman because her last name was Ravenscroft and then a thought occurred to me.

**…. Like I really attended her parties or functions just to meet her snobby friends….**

She said Pam was different; she wasn't like the rest. That she may have been raised in a house of privilege but she hated it. So she would give all the snobs attitude whenever she could at these parties, she was fun to hang out with because of it. That Pam never took her family sir name because she wanted to make something of herself on her own and she did.

Well I thought I would give her a shot, I might just like her. So I figured I would talk to Amelia about her more later when we were at her condo and in private, Amelia was starting to get loud and people were starting to notice. I looked at my Viking once again and he was smiling at me. Did he hear Amelia's rant? Oh well if he did, it's none of his business; it's not his sister we were talking about.

_Oh damn, I needed to pee_.

So I told Amelia I needed to excuse myself; I drank too many sweet teas and I needed to use the restroom. As I stood up I realized my Viking was staring at me once again, He is really starting to creep me out with his non-moving stare. If I was really nosey I would drop my shields to see what he was thinking but I really, really needed to pee. If I waited any longer I was going to pee my pants.

So I got up really fast and headed for the restrooms and thought to myself if he was going to approach me this would be his best time but I was not going to invite him, he would have to make that move on his own.

**EPOV**

I followed Sookie and walked over to the restroom behind her but as soon as I got to the doors she turned around and said "_Eric, we need to talk_. But I need to pee first, wait here."

How did she know my name, all I could think was Amelia told her while they were talking during their lunch?

When she returned, she asked me if I was okay because she kept catching me watching her and staring. Sookie also stated she thinks the woman with me noticed I was staring her down as well. I was dumbfounded, I did not think I was staring that much.

I asked Sookie if we could talk right now and she agreed. It was odd she was so willing to talk to a stranger but it felt comfortable for some reason. I got the same feeling while I spoke with Adele those few weeks back, there was a comfort in my heart while we talked.

There happened to be a bench situated in the hallway between the two restrooms so we took a seat to talk in private so not to be disturbed by Amelia or my mom. I figured we were safe for a little while.

Again I was nervous, shit what was I doing?

So I proceeded to tell Sookie I needed her help and not to think of me as a big pervert or stalker because I wasn't one. That I made up a story about us dating and told my parents about our relationship, that they fell for it, hook, line and sinker. The worst part was that they fell in love with her when I started telling them about her life with her grandmother. She raised an eyebrow at me and then she chuckled a little. I wasn't too sure what she thought or why she would laugh at me, it was no laughing matter.

_On second thought, yes it was_.

But she sat there and listened to me about what I had done and how I had gotten the information. She seemed to not judge me, I was waiting for her to slap my face or storm off but she just sat there and listened to me quietly like she was listening to two conversations at the same time.

I did not tell her about why I had no social life and why my mother thought I needed her help but I figured she didn't need to know any of that. As I finished up my little story she seemed to perk up a little bit but I was not too sure why. I had not said anything yet about the party and I needed to before our cover was blown and my mom came looking for me.

I was already gone from our table for a good five to ten minutes and being a mom I knew she would come looking for me even if I was a grown man.

So I took a deep breath, and asked Sookie if she had plans for this evening? I sat there waiting as she said YES she did have plans….. _Shit I was screwed…._.

But she then filled it in by saying her plans were going to a Halloween party with Amelia.

I remembered that Amelia had said to my mom that she would be at our party tonight so I was very hopeful. I asked her if the party they were attending happened to the one being held at the Northman's and she told me she did not know where it was held because Amelia was driving and she was along for the ride.

Sookie said she had never been to one of Amelia's friends parties before but it was going to be an experience for her. She told me that she had been to theCarmichael's parties before but never any of Amelia's friends' parties. Sookie said she was afraid she would not fit in, but since it was a costume party she figured she could get away with it.

So I took another deep breath and asked her if she would come to my family's party tonight as my date. I was hoping that she would say yes and make this easy for me.

….. _What do you think my chances were, zero, right_….

I told her Amelia said she was already going to be there so once she got there she could hang out with me. I told her it would be perfect - she could meet my parents and sister and then we could have a big breakup in front of them and then this nightmare would be all over. I told her I would owe her for life.

Sookie sat there for a few seconds before she spoke to me again. She was chewing on her lower lip, it was so damn cute. I ended up pulling her lip out from under her teeth with my fingers and asked her what she thought. She said YES but she had two conditions.

_ …. Oh NO, Conditions, SHIT…. I can handle conditions, right…_

**SPOV**

Eric had such a handsome face and a great body to boot. I had to concentrate on not listening to him internally. It was hard enough to concentrate on his words while watching his lips move. He had great lips.

I had heard so much of his quandary at lunch while I was talking to Amelia that I came up with the idea to go to the restroom in hopes he would follow me there.

I usually don't help anybody out by using my telepathy but he needed my help and he was so damn cute. I usually only helped out my family and few close friends when they needed me to; it was safer and I stayed under everyone else's radar and out of the limelight.

There are only a few close and I mean close friends that know about me. I had heard too many times that I was odd or Crazy Sookie and classmates were warned to stay away from me, that's why I felt like a leper in High School. I could hear what everyone thought of me and it wasn't pretty. But look at me now - I teach these morons' kids and they love me.

… _KARMA, it's a BITCH_…

I hadn't been with anyone in over a year so I knew just being his date for one night would not kill me but I was going to make him work for it.

I was actually looking forward to it because I had met a few of Amelia's friends and they did not approve of me and my country bumpkin ways. So being seen with Eric would be a major boost to my self esteem or so I thought.

I was always considered a blonde airhead and I hated it. They treated me like crap because I grew up with no money and apparently no social skills. ….. _SCREW THEM….._

So Eric explained to me what he did, even though I pulled most of it out of his head earlier. He was really distraught over this and was ashamed of himself because he thought his plan would work but eventually it backfired more than once.

He just neglected to factor in the holidays and the Northman Parties.

So he asked me one more time if I would go to his parent's party as his date and then break up with him all in one night. It was a little overwhelming even if I knew what was going to happen.

So I said sure but I had two conditions… He turned white as a ghost, maybe not a ghost, maybe a pale white vampire with great shoulder length blonde hair.

Condition one; I will not dress as a Zombie for anyone.

Eric smiled and laughed about that one and he told me Okay; wear what you want because he hated the "Zombie" theme too.

Condition two; I wanted my OWN supply of peanut butter M&M's.

They were one of my vices and I loved them. Eric laughed but said he would get them for me.

I told him that once we were together at the party we could sneak off a few times to make it look good plus we could plan our eventual break up.

He said that sounded great to him because it was a better plan than he had.

Seriously what was he thinking? He should have had this all planned out if he wanted it to work properly, but he was a man and they all wait until the last damn minute to do anything; planning is not their forte.

About that time his mother called out his name, she was getting closer. I could track her by her thoughts and I knew how far away she was from the hallway. She was about to enter the hallway so being the good girlfriend I was, I slid into Eric's lap and was nibbling on his ear when Mrs. Northman made it fully around the corner.

She was shocked to say the least; she was neither expecting us to be together nor someone sitting in her son's lap. Let alone me kissing and nibbling on his ear. I felt ashamed I got caught and I blushed bright red but I was enjoying every minute of it. Eric smelled so good and he tasted like the ocean.

**EPOV**

When Sookie told me her two conditions I was elated. They were easy; I thought for sure I was going to owe her something big.

Most girls would have gone for jewelry but Sookie wasn't most girls so I had to readjust my thinking.

Sookie did not want material or monetary things, just simple requests and I was going to give them to her. I had figured whatever she asked for would be well worth it to keep my parents at bay but luckily it would cost me less than five dollars.

I can't remember any time in my short life when my date cost me less than a hundred dollars let alone five dollars.

I was defiantly flabbergasted by her values.

The other thing that threw me off was when she slid into my lap and started nibbling on my ear.

I did not even hear my mother so I was glad she did because it saved our asses BIG TIME.

I had a strange thought about her; was she like Adele and very intuitive and could sense people and their approach? If we were dating I guess that would be a question to get answered but I guess I will never know.

…._Since after tonight we would never see one another again_…..

As my mother approached, she gasped in surprise and I saw Sookie blush a nice red color at being caught, that color of red looked good on her. I don't know if it was faked or not but she looked quite embarrassed by what she was doing.

She was killing me with her nibbling and kisses on my neck, it felt so good, so right. I knew then it was going to kill me to fight with her tonight, I wanted this to work out but I knew it couldn't. It wasn't in the cards.

Mom asked who my friend was. So I introduced her to Sookie and my mom was quite happy about the introduction finally. I told her I wanted Sookie to be comfortable when meeting her for the first time so we decided to do it this way at Merlotte's so the odd feelings could be put out of the way.

My mom said she thought that was a good idea but that the weekend before Thanksgiving we would both be expected to go to my parent's house for a little conversation. This long awaited talk would be between my parents, Sookie and me. We both told her we would be there.

Thank god we were ending this tonight or I would have to set up a play date with Sookie to get through this next hurdle.

We said our goodbyes and told each other we would miss each other until we were together tonight.

Shit that was sappy….. Shit I hope she wasn't wearing a mask I forgot to ask her what she was going to dress as…. Shit Shit Shit…

I guess I would have to wait and find out because I didn't even have her phone number to ask.

Mom and I left at the same time and she told me she thought Sookie was a nice girl, but she really wanted to sit down and talk to her. I told her that Sookie was an open book and would answer any and all questions asked of her. But I asked my mom to please not do it tonight, to let us have fun. She agreed….. Thank god.


	4. Zombies

**Chapter 4- Zombies**

So I figured I had about four hours before I needed to be at the Northman party, so I made a beeline for Wal-Mart to get the much needed Peanut Butter M&M's for Sookie. I ended up buying two bags because I figured I would keep her sugared up; maybe that would help her with the confidence she needed to meet all of my friends.

What was I thinking?

She's going to need massive amounts of alcohol. That way she could go into an alcohol induced coma to put up with the "elite" group. I knew that Alcide, Maria, Quinn and Sam would run interference but I know of a few girls that would be a definite pain in my ass and Sookie's as well.

Claudine and Isabelle came to my mind first, maybe I should ask for Pam's help too because Sookie would have to go to the bathroom sooner or later. I just couldn't go in with her and I thought maybe Maria might be pre-occupied with Alcide and the party. This was Maria's first time attending a Northman party.

Shit, once again, a new dilemma.

I would have to call Pam shortly and ask for her help with Sookie. I would have to make sure I talked to Pam before the party because if I didn't I might miss her once she got there; it gets rather hectic when everyone starts coming and going.

I got a hold of Pam and she said she thought she knew Sookie through Amelia.

_WTF, why didn't she ever say anything before? How many Sookie's are there?_

She said she would be more than happy to help me out. Of course she snickered when I told her Sookie wasn't her type that I was Sookie's type and she snickered once again.

_What the hell did that mean? What did Pam know that I didn't?_

I went to my parent's house early so I could get ready in my Zombie costume; I wondered out loud how things were going to go tonight. Hopefully no one overheard me, I was so nervous.

One I would have my fake girlfriend on my arm for most of the night and two how the hell was I going to break up with her?

Sookie said we should sneak off every so often to be alone to throw people off and I thought that would be a great idea but where in the house during a party would it be private? My dad's study, the wine cellar, my old bedroom, the pool house, the garage or in the back yard at the old swing attached to the huge weeping willow tree. I guess we would have to play it by ear and see where the least amount of people were at.

Ten minutes until party time, so I went looking for my mom to see if there was anything I could do…. NOTHING… Pam still wasn't here yet, figures she always has to make a dramatic entrance anyway. I can't wait to see what she has on as a Zombie outfit. I am sure she will have 5" stilettos on to accent her drab attire.

The witching hour had begun and people started to arrive. I stood at the front door watching and searching for Sookie to walk through the door but nothing yet.

As I watched the guests enter, I saw the door open again and my posse came through it. They all looked great, even Maria; she had on this hot, little bloody outfit and great face makeup. Alcide was very proud of her.

I heard Quinn growl a little and noticed the two women I desired the least in life just walked through the door, Sophie Ann and Selah; nothing but two human piranhas who would chew you up and spit you out when they're done with you.

Oh shit, they were headed in our direction, shit shit shit… Selah asked if I was ready to yield to her yet and Sophie Ann asked for a dance. I told them both NO I was seeing someone and my dance card was full.. They both told me I was full of shit…. Just then I was saved by the door opening once again…

In walked the most beautiful creature and she was all mine.

Quinn spoke up first and asked who the hell that was? She was gorgeous and he had first dibs since he saw her first.

Maria and Alcide laughed and said that little fairy is Sookie and she is already taken by Eric.

Right beside her when they entered was Amelia who was dressed as a witch (go figure she is always dressed as a witch) and my sister, Pam, dressed as an Erotic Zombie Dancer. How the hell does she come up with this stuff?

But next to these two women I knew, stood the most beautiful creature, golden skin, small multi-colored baby doll corset type dress, black heels, silver glittered wings topped off with face makeup. She was even more beautiful in her fairy costume.

If you did not know her before, you would most certainly not recognize Sookie now. She was a sight for sore eyes and the boys were drooling. She was absolutely gorgeous.

Just about that time my mom and dad walked over to say hello to the ladies and I followed along.

Sookie came up to me and gave me a big hug and kiss and she said that she missed me since lunch. **SHE WAS GOOD**, Pam just snickered. I guess Sookie told Pam and Amelia what was up; at least now I would have two more allies to get through the night.

I would have to get Pam alone and ask.

My parents were excited to meet Sookie and I know all eyes were on us, watching to see what was going on.

It was well known I was a bachelor but having someone attached to me now, my family and friends- were all greeting her like she belonged was making things very interesting.

Selah and Sophie Ann were fuming and right next to them stood the other two wenches I hated -Isabelle and Claudine. It was beautiful; I was going to have a great evening despite the outcome.

Before we made our first disappearance, my mom asked Sookie why she was not dressed up in theme with everyone else. She said she did not have time to get a Zombie costume and she had this outfit hanging around so she wore it. She said she hoped they were not mad but actually Fairies were just as cut throat as Zombies but with a pretty exterior, my parents both laughed and told her she was beautiful and they would see us later.

One hurdle down, infinity left to go.

We went and got our first drink of the night and then left to find my dad's study, our first getaway.

Sookie said she was nervous and found out on the way over here that Pam was my sister; she never connected us because of the last names. I told her my sister was one of a kind and took my mom's maiden name so she could be her own person; she wanted to be herself without the Northman name baggage.

She told me she felt sorry for me if that was one of the demons I was also battling with.

She was very sweet and I was falling for her after a half an hour.

God I was screwed, so our plan was to mingle with my friends, hold hands, an occasional peck on the cheek, drink and dance.

Well all was well for about an hour and a half; Mom came up to us to say hello and let us know she saw us sneak away once and asked me what we were up to; so I explained to Mom we were just trying to get some alone time.

Sookie used our talk as an excuse to go the ladies' room. She came back flustered and Mom asked her what was wrong. Being gracious, she said nothing; she was fine. I knew better, I did not know her well enough but still enough to know someone got to her. God, where was Pam, Amelia or Maria? They were supposed to go with her.

**SPOV**

I snuck away from Eric and his mom's conversation long enough to go the bathroom. He had warned me not to go by myself but I figured everyone was harmless since the whole Northman clan opened their arms to me and made me part of the family. Boy was I wrong. As I stood in line waiting for the restroom, I overheard a few girls ahead of me talking about Eric and how I must be some type of tramp to come dressed like I was. They knew whoever I was I would not last because I was not of the social elite and they would snuff me out at every opportunity. Why, because they deserved to be with Eric; they had all the right breeding, not me. I was shocked and turned around and did not even use the restroom. I would have to wait until I found one more private. I could wait.

**EPOV **

Shit, I needed to know. So I told her we needed to sneak off again. We went out to the garage but there was already someone out there making a lot noise and I mean a lot of noise.

OMG, it was Amelia and Pam, Oh God, I need brain bleach, OhMyGod, please get that image out of my head. Sookie just laughed and suggested we just walk to the back yard. I knew where I wanted to take her.

As we walked towards the pool house, I saw Quinn was in there with someone. I could not tell who it was, so we kept on walking to my most favorite part of the back yard. The old weeping willow tree, Dad had put up a swing when we were young and it has stayed there. I think he goes out and mends it every so often just to make sure it's there for me and Pam.

I asked Sookie to sit while I pushed her. She obliged and giggled while I pushed her slowly.

I asked her what was wrong and she did not want to answer me. I asked her again and she said just to drop it, let's not ruin what little time we had left. That did not go over well with me; I told her if someone said something to her I wanted to know so I could stop it.

All Sookie would tell me is that she overheard a conversation about her and I and she did not know who was talking. To just please drop it, so I did.

It hurt me to ignore it but I told her I would not say another word about it. I knew deep down it was bothering her but after all we were breaking up at the end of this night anyway.

Sookie was actually being a good sport about the whole fake relationship. I gave her a peace offering before we decided it was time to go back in. Before we left the house I had slipped a Ziploc baggie of peanut butter M&M's in my pocket. She was ecstatic about her treat when I offered it to her. As she was placing one at a time in her mouth, she started to make these little orgasmic noises as she devoured them.

Oh my God, what a turn on.

I wondered if she was like this as she ate other foods as well; was she even aware she was doing it? It took all my will power not to pounce on her but at least I got my own reward after she was finished with her chocolate bounty; she kissed me.

She asked me if there was more and I told her yes. She was pretty excited at the fact she would be getting more peanut butter M&M's some time tonight. The only thing is I needed to make sure we were alone so no one else heard her noises. HMMMM, maybe if they did hear her that would make it look we were doing something other than necking like two teenagers in heat.

HMMM, that gave me an idea I needed to run past her the next time we snuck out.

We went back in to the house to get another drink, but Sookie said before we did that she really needed to pee since she wasn't able to do it the last trip. So I took her up to my old bedroom which has its own bathroom attached.

_ Hell that was one way to get her into my bedroom_.

Not like anything was going to happen but I could hope; I was falling for her hard. Sookie was my exact opposite and fit me in every way. Her personality complemented mine, she was shorter than me but in heels she was only a few inches shorter. She had great curves; she wasn't a skeleton like some of the woman I knew. I was so involved in my thoughts I did not even hear her come back into my bedroom and sit down beside me.

**SPOV**

I could tell Eric was worried about me but I was a big girl and could take care of myself. I have heard much worse and that was from people I actually knew.

I told Eric I still needed to pee so he took me to his private bedroom which had an attached bathroom as he wanted me to be able to pee in private.

I decided I needed to hear what he was thinking; I had my shields up all night so I could enjoy myself, but I really needed to know his thoughts right now.

_I heard him thinking about us both being nervous._

_That he hated the fact that people were not saying nice things about me._

But what shocked me the most was that _he admitted he was falling for me hard_.

Oh shit this was supposed to be simple, not complicated. But truth be told I was falling for him too, he was everything I ever wanted in a man. Why couldn't we have met under different circumstances? I know it was quick but he was right, we complimented each other.

What the hell was I thinking; I can't keep this up for much longer. I needed us to do the break up soon or it would get more complicated and harder to break up.

But what I did next shocked the hell out of me but I figured I needed it as much as he did. I sat down next to him and leaned in and kissed him.

At the same time I undid my corset and asked him if he wanted to play a little bit because I did. I needed to release some frustration just as he needed some release too. I did not need to hear it to know it was there, frustration is easy to spot in someone's eyes and he was full of it.

Yes I was being forward but I knew I would not let it go any farther than third base, he was not scoring a home run tonight but fondling was okay. I waited for his answer before I went any further.

**EPOV**

As she sat down next to me I felt her lean in a bit and kiss me on the lips, it was nice, sensual, not quick and flirty. Nothing like we were doing in front of company downstairs. As it was when we snuck off before we never kissed, we just talked. We would have a normal conversation or we would go over our plans for the breakup scheduled to go off at midnight.

I never expected her to undo her corset and ask me if I wanted to play a bit. Of course I wanted to play, her breasts were magnificent. So there I was contemplating what to do next, should I proceed or tell her I thought it wasn't a good idea. But we were interrupted by the knock on the door.

She moved quickly to the bathroom and I answered the door. It was Claudine trying to track me down to tell me about my girlfriend and that she had it on good authority she was in the pool house with Quinn. That she was there to console me. WTF She did not want me to get hurt by another gold digging whore. Just at the right moment Sookie walked out of my bathroom and asked to be introduced to my friend. I knew she heard the whole thing but what she said next was perfect.

She threw a wet wash cloth at me and told me it was my turn to clean up after our little bit of fun, she nodded to my crotch and I swear I blushed a deeper red than Sookie did. Claudine was appalled and stormed out of the room. I just laughed as did Sookie. Like I said before she was being a good sport about this whole thing, I was really going to miss her after tonight.

Once we got ourselves back together I thanked her for her offer earlier and I told her I think fate saved us from doing something foolish. She said yeah maybe it did, but she does not regret the offer. God I love this woman, she is my perfect match.

We went downstairs and had another drink, danced a little and then moved over to the buffet table to eat a little bit of food to soak up the alcohol. Well, just let me say this now, Sookie makes that orgasmic noise A LOT when she eats.

It just so happened Quinn walked up behind us as Sookie let out a low moan, GOD SHE WAS KILLING ME. Quinn shocked us both by saying if she sounded that good eating food she probably sounded fantastic in the sack. Naturally I punched him on the shoulder and told him to shut the fuck up.

I asked him who he was with in the pool house a few minutes ago and he said Isabelle, so I knew it was a set up between her and Claudine but where did they think Sookie was to get away with it? They had to have someone trying to help them out, then it came to me, William Compton, I saw that slithering snake watching Sookie every time he got the chance. I guess it back fired since we never left one another's side.

….**AssHole….**

We decided it was time to take another walk so I got a hold of the secret stash of peanut butter M&M's and brought a baggie out with us. We walked back out to the weeping willow tree to talk. It was a perfect fall night and we were enjoying ourselves. It felt like a real date. How could this night be ending in less than an hour? So I handed Sookie her newest bagged treat and she said I was spoiling her. Little did she know I have 4lbs of Peanut Butter M&M's for her up in my bedroom. I should have showed her while we were up there, we might have had a different outcome than coming back down to the party.

But being the good boy I reframed. I needed to keep in mind that everything was coming to an end and I needed to push forward to get over this and make it to midnight. My stomach was starting to bother me and it wasn't from the alcohol I was consuming. It was nerves plain and simple. We talked a little bit more about the break up and Sookie said she had a plan and I just needed to follow her lead. I wasn't too keen on the matter but I was going to trust her.


	5. The Breakup

**Chapter 5- The Break Up**

**SPOV**

There was only an hour left before the breakup scene. It was going to be rough for both of us. I was going to keep my shields down so that I could deflect anything he was going to be verbally throwing at me; plus I could use some ammo from the other guest's thoughts. That thought occurred to me after the bathroom experience and then again in the bedroom. I would get some pretty nasty shit from some of these women that thought I was honing in on their turf. It was perfect; I just needed to make sure Amelia was close by when the shit storm happened so she could leave with me quickly; nothing like having a melt down and not be able to go anywhere because your ride is MIA.

**EPOV**

I don't know what Sookie was up to but I was going to go with the flow. We decided to dance some more. It was little too close for my liking. Normally I would be all for it but knowing that I was going to be frustrated enough when Sookie left, let alone sexually frustrated on top of it was too much for me. But I knew I made this mess and she was helping me clean it up.

I asked her to go on one last walk before the night ended. I choose the wine cellar because no one would go down there and it would be very private.

When we got down there I thanked her for helping me out and I asked her if we had met under different circumstances would she have gone out with me? She told me yes, but she felt we would have never met since I don't run in the same crowd as her and she does not see me being held down by her small town back water ways.

She was from a small town and I was larger than life and she did not think that mixed well. I told her to stop putting herself down, she was everything I ever wanted in a woman and more. She was perfect for me and I told her so.

But she had reason on her side and said this relationship started out wrong and that was not a good way to start. Maybe if we started out the right way things would be different but she knew she would miss me just as much as I would miss her.

I kissed her once more, a toe curling kiss, one for the record books. I poured all my emotions into that one kiss and she responded in kind. I wanted to shout out to her that I LOVED HER but I thought that would not be wise. It would make it harder for me at our breakup; it was in less than 20 minutes.

….. _Oh MY GOD 20 minutes please make it go away_ …..

We went back upstairs so that she could find Amelia and I needed to find my posse, they were all busy doing their own thing but once they saw me alone they knew I was rallying the troops for the inevitable. Sam and Quinn said they were glad that they finally got to meet Sookie and it was too bad it was ending but they understood why. Quinn asked me if he could have Sookie's phone number, I did not need to smack him because Alcide and Maria took care of that. Alcide punched him pretty hard; he moved a few feet.

Once we were together we went looking for Sookie. We found her talking to my parents she made this too easy. She had a plan and it was coming together. I was just waiting for it to start. It was minutes away now I was just waiting for her to start the argument and then for her to run off from me forever. But I wasn't expecting what happened next.

SPOV

Well once I found Amelia I told her to say her good byes to Pam as she needed to stay here to help with Eric. I knew what I was going to say and it was going to get dirty so I needed her to be there for her big brother, he was going to be in a lot of pain and his emotions were going to be on overload and he would need her support as well as his posses' support. I did not care what the Elite Whores thought after I left. I knew I would never see them again.

As I was looking for Eric, I found his parents instead and I thanked them for their hospitality and that I regretted having to leave so soon. There were some unforeseen circumstances and I needed to leave now. I also told them I had church in the morning with my Gran. I had promised her I would be home to take her.

As Eric approached he tried to slide his arm around my waist but I backed off from him. He was thrown off and his facial features showed it, I told him not to touch me. He did not have the right to do that anymore. His parents looked as shocked as he did.

He was starting to plead with me to explain why I was backing off from him. But I told him I did not want to air his dirty laundry in front of his parents and friends. I could hear from the whore patrol that they were right - I hooked up with someone else at the party and I did not want him to find out.

He begged me to explain and I had already had enough of the elite group's thoughts that I was hearing. It was egging me on to go one step further.

_Gold digger_

_Bitch_

_Cunt_

_What the hell happened, they were having so much fun together._

_ OH MY GOD Eric not another one. _

_ What did you do?_

_I was a tramp to come dressed like I was_

_I was not of the social elite and they would snuff me out at every opportunity_

_They were bred for him not me._

_Good, more for me, I can pick up the pieces once she leaves._

_Fat bitch._

_And on and on, it started to get real nasty in the "Elite bitches" thoughts_

There was plenty more and I starting throwing what I was hearing at him. He said he did not say any of that. I told him it wasn't him or his family who had said any of it but it was what I overheard while I walked around without him.

His guests were only being gracious to his face and if this is what they thought about me then I was sure he thought the same since he was raised in the same "ELITE" group of ASSHOLES. He was shocked. His parents were appalled at what I overheard, but they kept quiet while I ranted.

I told him at least I was just smart enough to get out now before he threw me away for a better model and one that was more polished. That I did not know it was going to be this difficult; I had thought his friends accepted me but I was wrong.

They were all nodding yes I was accepted by them and were equally shocked that I thought different; Eric never turned to look at his posse to see their acknowledgment.

I could see the tears welling up in his eyes. I needed to end this soon as I was starting to break down as much as Eric was. Listening to his thoughts my heart was being broken in two. When I heard him say he loved me I was not sure if he said it out loud or I heard it in my head.

I waited for a moment and he said it again. I heard people gasp this time so I knew this time he said it out loud. I told him I loved him too but I was not made out for this; I was a simple girl with simple ways and I would be swallowed up whole by the vultures he called friends. That this was not going to work out no matter what he said to me; we were over before we even began.

As I turned I started to cry and then ran towards the front door. Amelia wasn't too far behind me I could feel her getting closer. I heard Eric scream my name but I was listening to the "ELITES" thoughts instead.

_Poor girl_

_Poor Eric, why did she do it so public, oh well I will be there to pick up the pieces. _

_Bitch._

_Cunt._

_Good riddance._

_ OH MY God Eric, my poor baby, what the hell happened tonight? _

_What did these bitches say to her?_

_Damn she's good._

_She pulled it off but Eric is devastated, how the hell am I supposed to help him through this one?_

I ran to Amelia's car and told her to be quick we needed to get out of here like now. I heard Eric again he was getting close. He was yelling "Sookie please" over and over again. He was telling me not to leave, that we could talk this out like every other time. I was getting closer and closer to getting out of the car and I told Amelia that so she stepped on the gas and we shot down the driveway; she had the forethought when we arrived to park in a good spot to leave quickly.

I heard Amelia gasp so I turned around and watched Eric crumble to the ground. I then watched as Alcide and Quinn picked him up and carried him back into the house. I told Amelia to pull over once we were far enough away. I needed to compose myself and stop crying.

She did as instructed and asked me if I was okay. I did not answer right away but I did put my shields back up. She told me it was a great break up and she wanted to know how I came up with what was being said about me. I pointed to my head and she smiled and told me that she was sorry she knew a bunch of them were bitches but she did not think they would attack me. She said these supposed friends were dead to her now. Pam of course wasn't, but the rest of them she adjured from her life.

She hoped to never see them again. But she needed to tell her dad why and if that was okay with me. I said fine, I understood why she would need to elaborate the story to Copley so he would know what happened.

I am sure he would not be happy about any of it since he said I was like a daughter to him. Amelia said she would not tell her dad it was a fake relationship but she would tell him what happened at the party. I told her again that would be fine.

I finally sucked it up as we got to her condo and told Amelia I was not okay and that I did truly love Eric. How could that happen in one day? He was my perfect match in every way and now that was fucked up because of the fake relationship and the fake break up.

God shoot me dead; I was going to hell. I finally found the man of my dreams and now he was gone.

I told Amelia I was going straight home and going to bed because I was emotionally exhausted. She said she understood and to call her tomorrow after I got home from church. That's what I loved about Amelia the most, she never pushed.

**EPOV**

I was shocked when Sookie pulled away from me. My parents were equally as shocked; you could see it on their faces. I did not know what she said to them before I got there but it must not have been good which led into what followed.

She told me she was leaving and that I did not have the privilege to ever touch her again.

I started to plead with her; I wanted her to explain what was going on. She told me she did not want to air our dirty laundry in front of my family and friends. Just to leave her alone and it was over. I knew we were going to fight but when she started saying things that the people at the party had said I was shocked.

_Gold digger._

_Bitch._

_Cunt._

_She was a tramp to come dressed like she was._

_She was not of the social elite and they would snuff her out at every opportunity._

_They were bred for him not Sookie._

_Fat bitch._

It was hurtful, nasty comments she overheard and I couldn't believe what Sookie put up with all night long while at our party. How long had this gone on for, did it start when she went to the bathroom that first time? Oh My God, I was ashamed of these people that I have known forever.

I told her I did not say any of those things and I never would. Her next remark was since I grew up and ran with this Elite group of assholes I probably felt the same way about her.

I did not care anymore about breaking up with her; I just wanted her to stop talking, she was wrong, she had to be wrong.

I wanted to take her in my arms and tell her everything was going to be okay. That I did not need these selfish people; I only needed her and my world would be aligned again.

I tried unsuccessfully to get her to stop talking; I tried to get her to go out of the room with me, she wouldn't budge.

But the venom she was spilling out of her mouth was killing me. She had to know I loved her, why didn't she know, why didn't I say something while we were in the wine cellar. Couldn't she tell from our last kiss how I felt? I know it was too early but she had to have known, she had to have felt the same way as me.

….._She just had to_….

After our last kiss and had I known what was going on I would have never suggested continuing with our planned break up tonight. That kiss meant something to me and I knew it meant something to her. But after hearing what people thought of her or even us, I was appalled as were my parents.

My parents just happened to be looking around the room to see if they could figure out who had said all this garbage to Sookie?

I could feel the tears starting to well up in my eyes, I couldn't hold them back any longer, I felt more for Sookie in just a day than I ever felt for Thalia. My heart was breaking in two; I couldn't lose her like this. I had to tell her that I loved her. I had to do it now before I lost her forever.

"Sookie please stop, I LOVE YOU." She just looked at me no expression no nothing. Did she not hear me? So I said it again. "I. LOVE. YOU. SOOKIE" I heard people gasp but I didn't care. I wanted her to respond. I needed her to respond.

Sookie told me she loved me too but she was not made out for this; she was a simple girl with simple ways and she would be swallowed up whole by the vultures I called my friends. That this was not going to work out no matter what I said to her; we were over before we even began.

Before I knew it even happened she turned and ran for the door, Amelia was right behind her. I had to get to her. I needed to talk to her, if we could get alone I knew we could figure this out. I loved her; she had to stay with me. I couldn't lose her.

So I ran after her calling her name over and over again, she didn't stop until she got the car. I told her not to leave me and I begged her over and over again not to. I thought for sure she was going to turn around and run back to me but I was wrong; she closed the car door and Amelia bolted out of her parking spot down the driveway.

I was in shock when I looked at the car leaving my driveway I crumbled to the ground; I was devastated, I just realized I lost my true soul mate and I would never find her again.

The next thing I knew Alcide and Quinn picked me up off the driveway and help me into the house. I didn't care anymore I wanted to die and I said as much to my parents.

I couldn't stop my tears, Pam tried to console me but I didn't want it. I needed to remain miserable because I brought this on myself; I was the one who started the lie.

Alcide and Maria were by my side as the wenches started to come over to me to say they would help me get over her, she wasn't worthy of me, she wasn't one of us.

Well I had it, I stood up and told them all to go to hell; they would be the last females on earth for me ever, and I mean ever, to share my life. That they were the cause of this and if it was the last thing I did I would reap my vengeance on them.

I was devastated, pissed and destroyed. It wasn't supposed to be like this, it was supposed to be easy peasey. I wasn't supposed to fall in love with her but I did.

I then heard my parents tell the Elite group of assholes to please leave; they were no longer welcome in their house; apparently my parents had figured out who had said the nasty things to Sookie.

Those four bitches had the nerve to tell my parents they would be black balled for this.

My mom glared at them and said, "I would rather be black balled than to ever be in the same room with you again. I would rather be in Sookie's company than with your fake asses. I am ashamed of myself for ever suggesting Eric date any one of you."

I then noticed Maria and Pam come to Mom's rescue and escorted the bitches out of the house and then Pam slammed the door on their asses. It was a few minutes later I heard my parents apologize to the remaining guests for what happened. That they hoped everyone enjoyed themselves prior to the argument and that they knew once everyone calmed down that Sookie and I would work it out.

There were a lot of people who agreed with my parents. I was shocked, what did they know that I didn't?

I knew my parents didn't know this was a fake relationship but what had they seen that I hadn't?

I desperately needed a drink. So I asked Alcide for one but Sam got to the bar before he did and got me a scotch straight up and it was then he heard Bill Compton say it was about time I got knocked down a notch and he was glad it happened in a public place. I knew he hated me but not at that level.

I have never seen Sam fight with anyone but the next thing I knew Sam threw a punch and brokeCompton's nose. It was unbelievable and well deserved.

It was my father who personally walkedComptonout of his house and told him he was not ever welcome again, of course, Bill squealed that he would sue all of us and my father told him to go ahead and try.

I decided I was done for the evening, I couldn't be with anyone anymore and I needed to be by myself to curl up and die.

So I excused myself and went to my room. I was miserable and did not want anyone's help in getting better. I brought this upon myself. And I would take what was dealt to me. I would never be the same but I knew I could get over this one day.

….._Yes one day, perhaps_….

After I got changed and was getting into bed there was a knock on my door. My dad asked me if he could come in and I told him sure come on in. I was still a little weepy but I didn't care.

It was odd; my dad never talked to me about relationships so when he asked me about Sookie and me I was flabbergasted. I told him it was all a dream, that she was never MINE and never would be. My so-called friends ruined that for me. I would use that lie over the one I created about Sookie and me; it was an easier pill to swallow.

However my dad said "_If she is truly what you want for your future you need to suck it up and go after her. Follow her to the end of the world and back. Do whatever it takes to convince her you were meant to be a couple." _From what he saw of us she seemed to be worth it, that mom and him were behind me/us 100%. He said he never saw me react this way about any girl before and he could tell this was the girl for me. "_Don't give up so quickly, give her time to cool down and then go after what I know you want."_

He kissed my forehead and told me to sleep on it and tomorrow would be another day to react but don't be foolish with my actions. He told me good night and shut the door.

What the hell was that? My mom is the one who usually says that kind of stuff not Dad.

I was so confused. I decided to think about it later; I just needed to rest and then I would know what my next move would be. It was supposed to be so easy – fight, breakup, done.

I don't know how long I stared at the ceiling but I finally fell asleep after a couple of hours passed…..


	6. Decisions

**Chapter 6- Decisions**

I woke up earlier than I thought I would the morning after the Halloween party. I was a bit hung-over but nothing like I thought I would be. I keep thinking to myself how screwed up last night was.

First, I went to Merlotte's to tell my mom that Sookie and I were no longer together.

Second, Sookie had agreed to come to the party with me for the price of a bag of Peanut Butter M&M's.

Third, the party is where we had a phenomenal time, despite what was about to happen.

Fourth, it was also where I made the biggest mistake of my life letting her go through with the relationship breakup.

I couldn't believe how gracious she was in the afternoon about helping me out. She said she was intuitive like Adele and she knew I needed her help out of a bad situation.

She said she was my fairy godmother; she was dressed as a fairy after all.

The fight we were supposed to have was well choreographed but when she started it a totally different way than what we had discussed I knew something was wrong.

But when she started ad-libbing I was lost and dumbfounded. But it seemed like it was going to be perfect. But what she said next killed me, my friends hated her and she had overheard them talking, what was I thinking about this going to be easy?

I know it had to happen but I did not know I would ache for her. I fell asleep thinking about her and woke up doing the same, it was not supposed to be this way. I knew I was only going to have her for a short time but I became attached too quickly.

I reveled in her beauty and presence, while we sat on the swing under the weeping willow tree and talked. She kissed me a few times, just light sweet kisses but it was enough to affect me in an odd way. One I would surely miss.

I guess I would never get to know that aura or presence she had because I was not supposed to see her ever again. That was our deal but could I stick to it?

I took a deep breath and went downstairs to get some coffee so I could think better. I wanted to be holed up in my room all day but I figured I would be searched out sooner or later.

But quiet time was not in my cards for the day. Mom and Dad were waiting for me at the dining room table. Mom handed me a mug of coffee and told me to sit. Okay I could handle her being sweet, it's what I needed.

However it is far from what happened. Mom lit into me about being foolish and stupid for letting her run away. The argument should have never happened and I should have stopped it.

She stated next "_We do not think any differently of Sookie because she was not raised like you with a silver spoon in your mouth. We actually think more of her because of it, she made her own way." _

Both my parents agreed she was the one for me. They said I needed to get up off my ass and go after her and pursue her vigilantly.

God what a mess I made. Do I tell my parents this was all a fake relationship or do I just let them think it was doomed from the beginning?

….. _I went with Doomed_…

I sat there for a while listening to my parents. They really seemed to like Sookie and wanted us to work out.

….. _How did they like her so much after four hours I'll never know?_ ….

I told them I needed to be alone and went back up to my room to mope and think.

I sat there on my bed for about three hours.

What the hell did I do?

Why did I do it?

How was I going to get over a girl I never even dated?

… _I'm screwed…_

I decided I needed to talk to Sookie. I missed her terribly, she had filled a hole in my heart and she wasn't even truly mine.

How was I going to approach her?

….. _SHIT I'M FUCKED_…

I took a much needed shower and then changed into some clean clothes. For once I was glad I left extra clothes at my parent's house because I never knew what kind of shape I would be in the next day after a Northman Party.

It was then and there I made a decision. Whether good or bad, it was a decision. I walked downstairs and told my parents I was going to Bon Temps to win Sookie back.

They both told me they were proud of me and then I left.

As I drove out to Bon Temps, I realized I was extremely nervous.

How was I going to do this?

Sookie would shut the door in my face once she sees me.

Shoot me with a gun, even better a Benelli shotgun. I knew Adele had one in the front closet she told me about it.

Oh hell, maybe she would just run away with me.

God I was miserable….. Not even good enough company for myself.

I need to do this.

It was either sink or swim time.

I slowed down as I approachedHummingbird Laneand turned onto the gravel driveway. I took my time since it was a bit uneven. But I am sure they still heard my approach. There is no way you couldn't hear a car coming down that driveway.

Like before per Adele's instructions, I parked around back. I am not sure why I did it but I guess since that is where I was told to park the first time it seemed normal to me.

I sat in my car for a few minutes to try and compose myself. I was sweating bullets. I felt as nervous as a teenager picking up his date for the first time.

WTF, I thought to myself, I am a grown man, get over yourself. She is just a beautiful girl that you may have a chance with.

… there was a chance she would tell me to get lost too…..

As I passed the kitchen window, I saw Adele staring out of it and smiling at me.

Was that a good sign?

God help me.

Did she know I would be here again? Today?

As I approached the front porch I heard Adele call out to Sookie that the door was for her.

So I walked up the three steps slowly and knocked on the front door.

There was no answer yet so I silently waited.

There was no peep hole or window in the front door so I did not know if Sookie would know it was me out there. But when she opened the door she had a huge smile on her face and said, "Hello Eric, I've been waiting for you."

I was a bit shocked and I am sure my mouth hung open.

She grabbed my hand and pulled me into their home.

I never said hello to her; all I remember saying to her was, "We need to talk."


	7. Home

**Chapter 7- Home **

**SPOV**

After I left Amelia's I went straight home, I was mentally exhausted.

I wasn't expecting Gran to be waiting up for me but she was; old habits never die. Gran said she felt like something was wrong so she needed to stay up and wait for me. I told her that was sweet of her but unnecessary. Gran just said don't be foolish child I am always here for you.

Who was I fooling, I was a mess and she could tell it. Gran asked me to go get changed and to come back downstairs to the kitchen so we could talk.

I did as I was told and came back to a cup of coffee, a warm smile and a generous hug from my Gran. She always knew how to cheer me up when I was down.

We sat at the old kitchen table and I told her everything from Eric and I meeting at Merlotte's by accident, to the Halloween party at the Northman's, to the breakup at midnight.

I explained to my Gran that in all of this mess, I fell in love with Eric. I knew it was too fast and maybe foolish of me. But it felt right, like it was meant to be. It killed me to say all of those hurtful and nasty things to Eric but they were the comments I heard in his guests' thoughts. I believe I was a coward to have run away from him before he could talk to me and make me understand he did not feel the same way as his friends but I knew to delay would have me melting in his arms and never letting go.

I knew while listening to his mind that he felt the same way as I did but the plan never changed, we were still on schedule to breakup at midnight. However, I had these thoughts going through my mind as I spoke with Gran.

Not staying together!

Was I wrong in running away?

Should I have stayed?

How could I run away from the man I loved?

I was acting childish.

Gran let me think for a few minutes and she let me know her feelings on what happened.

Gran stated while she met this young man first and a few weeks prior to me; she knew he was a good boy and would be perfect for me. She wanted to introduce us but Eric ran off before I got home from work.

Gran said she tried to delay his departure but he ended up leaving roughly five minutes before I got home. If he had just stayed a few extra minutes this mess would have never happened. Gran said she should have showed him my pictures on the mantel and then perhaps he might have stayed.

Gran said she felt it down in her bones that Eric and I were meant to be together but at the time she met him she did not know how to get us together. She only knew he lived inShreveportbut did not have an address or a phone number so that she could contact him again.

Gran's intuition told her Eric was family and she was to treat him as such so when he left after lunch she wrote his license plate number down so that she could get Sheriff Dearborn to run the plate for her. (Sneaky Bitch) She decided she was going to get his personal information that way.

… Well I was not expecting to hear her say that … Gran can be so sneaky sometimes…

Gran and I talked for a little while longer but since we were both tired and we both needed rest we said our goodnights.

Gran said if I needed to talk some more we could finish talking in the morning before and after church, but she had thought we just about covered everything that needed to be said.

I kissed her goodnight and headed to my room to think and sleep.

The few things I knew for sure:

_I loved Eric!_

_What a mess WE made tonight!_

_How was I going to fix this?_

_Why did I run, I knew it was wrong!_

_Would Eric or his family ever forgive me and let me be a part of their family?_

I knew it would not be right for me to march over to his parent's house and knock on the door. I needed to figure out how to get a hold of him. We needed to talk and soon. I wanted this to work….

My mind was going shades of gray from lack of sleep so I knew it was time for rest or I would be in no shape tomorrow morning when I needed to take Gran to church. Besides, I had tomorrow to figure out how I was going to fix this mess I was in. I lay on my bed for a while and stared at the ceiling; but all I could see was Eric's smiling face. I feel asleep to his shining blue eyes and smile; it was the most pleasant image I have ever fallen asleep to.

I woke up Sunday morning feeling refreshed. I dreamt of Eric and that he would know how to fix us. I also knew I would see him today standing on my porch. I just needed to wait it out.

It was going to be a long day.

Gran and I went to the 10am church service and got back home around 12:30pm. Gran made us a quick sandwich for lunch as Jason was coming over later for a big Sunday dinner. Gran also knew I was too nervous to eat anything heavy and hold it down. I was waiting for Eric to come to me or as Gran said to "COME HOME".

I tried to keep myself busy with chores but I kept thinking about Eric and how I was going to help fix our mess. We are quite the pair.

It was around 3pm when I heard a car coming up the driveway. I knew it was too early for Jason so it had to be Eric. I did not want to seem anxious but I knew it couldn't be anyone else; it had to be Eric. So I did the next best thing and lowered my shields and read his mind. He was so confused and a nervous mess; he felt like his head was going to implode.

I heard Gran yell that the door was for me so I ran down the stairs to answer the door; I was trying not to be over eager.

I opened up the front door smiling like a fool and said, "Hello Eric, I've been waiting for you".

I grabbed his hand and pulled him into the house; I led him to the couch to sit down with me. I think I was just as nervous as he was. But we were saved by Gran.

Gran walked in with a pitcher of sweet iced tea and two glasses. We both thanked her and she left for the kitchen to keep busy and eavesdrop on our conversation. She knew I was nervous so I think she wanted to stay close.

I could tell Eric was nervous too so I started the conversation for us.

"Eric, I am so sorry about how I did things last night."

"No Sookie, It was my fault. I should have never lied. I should have never asked you to break up with me like that. I should have done it another way or told my parents the truth. This whole lying thing is not me. I am usually a strong person, some call me bad ass, but I caved in and I am sorry.

Sookie, it was horrible to hear what people said about you and I am ashamed to have called them my friends. Please forgive me."

"I don't blame you, Eric. You can't help what other people think."

"Sookie what do you mean; what do they think? They said nasty cruel things to you. It was uncalled for and I am truly embarrassed."

"It's okay, Eric. I know you did not say any of those things and I should have never insinuated that is what I heard. I feel bad because I would have heard you internally if you had."

"Sookie what do you mean by "Heard Me"?"

Moment of Truth Time

I took a deep breath. I started to explain things to Eric and how I had a secret to tell him. But he had to promise me to keep it hush hush; no-one could ever know. I was telling him because I did not want to hide it from him. I wanted NO SECRETS between us… If it ever did get out again I would be labeled Crazy Sookie again and I did not want that to happen, I did not want to lose my job at the high school, I loved my job.

I took another deep breath and started to explain about my disability and how it works. This was not going to be easy. I could see the disbelief in Eric's eyes. I was nervous that Eric would reject me because of her telepathy.

I started out by first telling Eric what I overheard when he entered Merlotte's with his mother yesterday. As I told him my heart sank at his dilemma; he was fighting what I told him. He thought I was full of shit. So I decided to continue; I was not too sure what to do next. But as I told him what he thought about me he looked a little more curious. I told him I was pissed at him because he lied about me but I decided to help him anyway. I told him I agreed with his thoughts at the time; I also thought he was screwed. As I went on with the story it led us to our talk in the hallway, this is where I think he finally started to believe me. I told him I could gauge people's thoughts to tell how far away they were. This is how I knew his mom was close and why I slid into his lap and nibbled on his ear and neck.

The look he gave me scared me. I knew I needed to continue and tell him everything. It is never easy when you are explaining this disability to someone; they want to lock you away. That's one of the reasons why I don't tell anyone.

NO MORE SECRETS

WE needed to start FRESH if we were going to do this.

I tried to stay out of his head but I heard him think clearly he must be dreaming because nobody was truly telepathic

….… Here's my opportunity… please believe me…..

I smiled at him and said Yes Eric, I am truly telepathic but I hide it as best as I can. I only drop my shields when I think I need to use my gift.

Eric was in shock; I could see it. He looked nervous and he wanted to talk about what happened last night, so I let him have the floor and stopped talking.

I thought to myself- okay avoidance- NOT GOOD-

**EPOV**

I was shocked by what Sookie was saying but it did explain a few things about our conversations and the outcomes. I did say at Merlotte's she looked like she was hearing two different conversations while she was talking to me and in reality she was; my internal thoughts and external voice. I never knew telepaths existed; it was kind cool but I could see why she wanted to keep it quiet, someone who wished ill will could hurt her or her family because of it.

I tried to understand it but it was a little overwhelming so I decided to change the subject. I would have plenty of time to work through my thoughts later on the matter of Sookie's gift. It was a gift even if she called it a disability but we could talk about why she called it that on a future date, we had other things we need to fix first.

I needed to tell Sookie everything. How I felt about her and our possible relationship. And I knew I needed to do it quickly before I chickened out. But before I could Adele came back into the living room to say a couple of things that she thought we needed to know before we went any further. She said once she said her peace she promised to leave us alone until supper.

Adele stated "she never saw two more fated, stubborn individuals in her life. If we stayed together we could overcome whatever obstacles occurred. We would be great together. She knew this deep down as deep as her old bones would let her. Adele said she could not only feel but see how much we loved one another; yes it was quick, maybe too soon but it was real and meant to be. But we needed to get our heads out of our butts and fix our mistakes from the night before" She then got up and walked away; she left us to ourselves.

I was stunned by what Adele said but when I looked up at Sookie she just smiled.

I figured Sookie started the conversation earlier so it was my turn.

"Sookie did you really mean it when you said you loved me?"

"Yes Eric, I meant it."

"Do you think we can get past what was said last night?"

"Yes Eric, I already have. It is just you that has to come to terms with it. I have heard much worse from my own neighbors."

"Sookie. can I ask you something about us, do you think we will make it as a couple?"

"Yes, but we will have to start fresh. We have to start dating and no moving in together yet. We are a long way away from that. You said you had Skype so we could talk that way every night that way we do not run our phone bills up and we still get to see each other"

"Sookie, you know I fell in love with you before we met yesterday. It would tear me apart if we did not work out. Do you see me in your FUTURE?"

"Yes Eric, you are a part of my future, as I am in yours. As Gran said we were meant to be. Plus I have been saving myself for my husband and I hope that it is you because I do not know how much longer I can wait. I have tried to be a good girl but lately I am reconsidering why I waited. I knew before it was because of sensory overload but since that is under control now I am just being chaste. Can you understand why I have waited and why I want it to be you? I never been in love before and I feel we are forever so it feels right. "

"Sookie, are you saying what I think - you are saying that you are a virgin? (She nodded yes) I would feel honored in being your one and only. I love you and I will cherish this gift from you always.

Sookie, can I ask you why you believe that so fiercely?"

"Because Eric I have been living by what the fates have carved out in stone for me all of my life. I don't know why I was given this disability and for what use. But I have learned to live with it.

I never moved away after college because I knew I was to stay here with Gran so that I could wait and meet you. It was the hand I was dealt.

I Love You Eric, please understand my life has never been easy but I have always been blessed. I believe in fate and I know you are MINE. It killed me last night to be cruel to you but it is what I thought you wanted. By the time I made it to Amelia's car I was ready to run back to you, but I thought you wanted me to leave because of our deal. I thought you were acting hurt and confused but when I saw you crumble to the ground and heard in your mind how devastated you were. I knew I was wrong but I did not know how to correct what I just did. I spoke to Gran about it last night when I got home. She told me to listen to my heart; it would not lie to me.

So Eric I am listening to my heart.

I want to be with you.

Do you want to be with me?

Can you live with my disability?"

"Dear One, I love you. I am here because I Love You and my parents advised me to pursue you until I made you listen and understand that we are perfect for one another.

Can you forgive me for being a fool?

Lying the way I did?

I want us, I want us badly….

"I know I must sound like a pussy right now and I am sure last night I looked about the same but I am not. I am usually a very strong person, I am usually the one my friends lean on but after our final kiss in the wine cellar last night I realized I am hopelessly in love with you. I should have said something to you then but I was a fool and delayed my emotional forthcomings. We could have had a much better outcome last night between us instead of that horrible break up; it would have never happened.

Yes, Dear One, I can live with and deal with everything you are; disability or not. Lover, Can we please stop calling it a disability and call it a gift?"

"Eric, why do you call me lover if we have never been? And yes, we can call it a gift but I have always called it a disability, Gran calls it a blessing. "

"I called you LOVER Sookie because you are my future everything.

Lover

Best Friend

Wife

Children's mother"

_Sookie actually blushed after I told her my plans_

"Eric, I heard you say you loved me last night but I thought it was part of the show. I couldn't tell after awhile if what I sensed was true or not, so I went with what we had talked about and continued with our plan. For that I am truly sorry…. I want you to please tell your parents that I am sorry for what happened last night; I should have stopped after the beginning and just left. I figured the more fuel you had for the breakup the more convincing it would be. Again I'm sorry."

"Sookie those 'Elite Snobs' last night mean nothing to me; nor do they mean anything to my parents. My parents kicked them out and told them that they are not welcome any more in the Northman house."

"My true friends have been blowing up my phone all day long to make sure I am okay and not doing something stupid. I have not answered them yet because I want to fix us first. It is the right thing to do and when we are done I will let them know that I fixed us and we are good as ever. I want you to meet them the right way and enjoy their company as I do. But you my dear are my utmost priority."

"Again Sookie, I Love You, gift and all. We can and we will work around it as long as you don't' **EVER** use it against me in a fight."

"Eric I promise I won't use it; it would be an unfair advantage where I would win all the time. Again Eric I am saying sorry for the nasty things I repeated to you last night."

"Sookie promise me something please. Please talk to me if you ever hear anything like that again. I will not tolerate it, you are **MINE** and I will protect you always." **MINE**…..HMMMMMMM… I think I could live with that.

I leaned over and gave her a much needed kiss. It was like the one we shared the night before soft but sensual. It felt like electricity shooting through our lips as I pulled away.

"Eric can I ask you another question?"

I nodded yes "Will you stay for dinner?"

**FIN**


End file.
